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". . . From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded."
(Luke 12:48 NRSV)
Lois K. Blanchard pictures Christ as still walking the streets today as she asks these pointed questions: "If Jesus came to your own home to spend a day or two -- If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do? I know you'd give your nicest room to such an honored Guest, and all the food you'd serve to Him would be the very best. And you would keep assuring Him you're glad to have Him there -- That serving Him in your own home is joy beyond compare; but when you saw Him standing there, could you go to the door, with arms outstretched to welcome Him your Heavenly Visitor? Or would you have to change some things before you let Him in? Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been? Would family conversation be continued at its pace? And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace? Would you be glad to have him meet your very closest friends? Or would you hope they'd stay away until His visit ends? Would you be glad to have Him stay forever, on and on? Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone? It might cause some embarrassment the things that you would do, if Jesus came to your own house to spend some time with you."
In one of Jesus' many parables he tells a story about a master who needed to leave his estate for a while and was going to leave it in the hands of one of his servants. Jesus describes for us two possible ways the servant might react in this situation, and then He provides for us the consequence of each response. The appropriate response to such a charge from ones master would be to keep it well. The servants did not know when the master would return and so the good servant would assume that the master could return at any moment and therefore he would work diligently to see that the master's affairs were dealt with in a manner of perfection, or as close as possible. This servant, when the master returns we are told, would be found worthy of the master's trust in other things and would therefore be placed in authority over all of his master's affairs.
Then Jesus tells us of the other possible response to this charge. Again the servant does not know when the master will return but unlike the good servant this servant, as he waits for the master's return, falls into the line of thinking that the master is delayed in his return and will not be back for sometime. He falls into beating the other servants and indulges himself on the food and wine of his master. When the master returns, to the surprise of the slothful and deceitful servant, and finds his affairs so muddled for lack of proper management and when he sees his servants mistreated and his food and wine consumed, we are told, that he will beat the wicked servant giving him many stripes.
The wrongfulness of this servant's actions are made more grievous by the fact that the servant knew what the master required and chose not to heed his will. Nevertheless if the servant did not know his master's will he would still be punished for doing what the law of nature tells his heart is wrong, albeit his punishment will not be so severe as that of the former servant who knew what he should do and did not do it. For Jesus said "from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded."
My friends, today you come before God as people to whom much has been given, for whom much has been lost, and from whom much is required. It is my hope and prayer today that through the revealing of God's precepts concerning what is required of us and why, that many will be encouraged to take heed to my exhortation on how that requirement can be fulfilled. I want you to know from the start that what we are hearing today I believe to be of grand importance. In fact, I would be wrong not to tell you that you ought to listen carefully today simply because there are some of those servants in this room who see the patience of God as a delay, and as a result they are living in licentiousness. And it is my fear that if they do not open their ears to hear God's requirement, that they will find themselves surprised by Christ's return, and my friend, there will be no time for such as those to clean up their mess and their sin cannot be hidden.
To begin let us look at what it is that God requires from those to whom he has presented Christ to as Savior.
I have often heard individuals of the Church lament over the high standards that the world places over our lives. They complain that the carnal world should not expect the Christian world to be so perfect. After all we Christians are human too, and quite susceptible to temptation. The world, according to these grumblers, should not expect us to live by higher standards than they in turn would expect themselves to live by. Such thoughts are quite contrary to God's way of thinking. In fact, as you know, He is of the persuasion that the worldly philosophy, which says if much trust is given to an individual, much faithfulness should be expected from them, is a good philosophy.
When Jesus was addressing the differences between the responsibilities and actions of the people of this world and those of God's people he said in Matthew ". . . if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? {48} Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mat 5:47-48 NRSV) It was understood that the Christian was different and therefore, there really is no reason why the world should not expect the church to live by higher standards than they place upon themselves.
Peter wrote in response to our desire to live by the world's standards saying "Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; {16} for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."" (1 Pet 1:15-16 NRSV) And so you see the requirement that God places upon us as a result of giving us the capacity to know Christ and claim Him as Savior is Holiness. God expects you and I to live in holiness. Now you might say, "But I thought law of Moses was abolished by Christ." That is not so, although many would like us to believe it. You will recall Jesus said ""Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." (Mat 5:17 NRSV) He did not make God's requirements less, rather I would say Jesus made them more clear and potent. Moses defines murder as killing a man. Jesus defines it as hating him. Moses viewed adultery as having a sexual relationship with another man's wife. Jesus viewed it as lusting after any women in one's heart. Far be it for us to ever say that Jesus lessened our responsibilities before God, for He did not. The only thing Jesus did was give us the tools to live the life God requires from us. Those tools are grace and the Holy Spirit.
Dear professor of Christ, will you make your salvation evident to the world by living a holy life or will you demonstrate the deadness of your faith, by remaining in sin, when God has made provision for your sinlessness?
It is not hard for me to recognize that some of the more skeptical professors of Christ would be begging for a good reason why one should live in holiness. To some people, the words and commands of Jesus Christ and the demands of God's word are not enough. They require reasons, they require an argument. Of such as those I am sure many will be found pressing God for a good reason why they should remain in hell, not willing to except the fact that their presence there is unalterable. Nevertheless, there are still some skeptics whose hearts I believe God can touch and so I will indulge them with a good reason for living a holy life.
I will begin that effort by pointing to Joseph as a man who was pressed for a good reason to remain pure by Potiphar's wife. This woman wanted him to sleep with her, she desired to have an evening of sensual pleasure with this man to whom God had given blessing upon blessing. I believe she saw the holiness in Joseph's life as attractive, I am convinced that this man so lived for God, that God made him a sight of joy and peace to those around him. And to a woman whose husband was away often, he was the symbol of male leadership and steadfastness that she so longed for. Men, it would be wise for you to note that what would probably make you most attractive and desirable to your wife would be a firm faith and trust in God, which in turnt would motivate you to live in purity and holiness. And so Joseph was pursued by a lonely and beautiful woman, who offered herself to him completely.
One day when they were alone she said to him, "Lie with me." {8} But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. {9} He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"" (Gen 39:7-9 NRSV)
You see Joseph recognized what his master had done for him. He saw the good that came to his life as a result of his obedience both to Potiphar and to God and he did not want to disappoint either individual. He sensed an indebtedness to them both and reasoned that the trust that they had placed in him was a good reason to remain faithful to them.
People, that is a good reason to live a Holy life. God has seen fit to make your salvation secure through Christ. He has secured an opportunity for you to be redeemed from the world and freed to live life at peace with Him. He has taken away the threat of eternal death and replaced it with the promise of eternal life and joy and peace. He has provided a way for you to live in prosperity of spirit. He has given you the key to life. And all this he has done, because he chose to do it. For no other reason did God give his son up to the confines of human suffering in order to save you. And I believe that there is no better reason to feel a responsibility to live your life in an effort to bring glory to His name and work, by striving for holiness and perfection. People, if you love God, it will be evident by your Holy way of life.
Now I know that you who have ears to hear must be thinking to yourselves how is such a way of life possible? How can God expect such holiness from people He knew could only be saved from un-holiness if He intervened? You are probably recalling statements made by pastors who taught you that the purifying of the human heart can not be accomplished by human effort. Those same pastors also taught you correctly when they said that there is no one righteous and that not one individual seeks God of themselves. And in recalling those teachings you find it hard to believe that God would contradict himself with such requirements as we have seen to day.
What you must realize is that when God calls His children to live in holiness He is not demanding perfection, He is demanding your heart filled desire to glorify Him. He knows that in ourselves we do not posses the ability to keep every jot and title of the law. What he requires when he requires holy living is the evidence of faith. And faith in God is made evident by obedience. Andrew Murray wrote that, "The secret of true obedience is the clear and close personal relationship to God. All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to his abiding fellowship. It is God's holy presence consciously abiding with us that keeps us from disobeying Him. I must consciously include the Lord in every thought, activity, and conversation until the habit is established."
And so in order to live in Holiness we must, as it is written in Hebrews 12, "run with perseverance the race that is set before us, {2} looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. {3} Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart." (Heb 12:1-3 NRSV)
The first key to holy living is to get to know Jesus Christ. We must study his life, his reaction to all that occurred around him, and then strive to be like that. We must desire to have God with us at all times so that through our fellowship with Him our response to the world would become like His.
You should note that the writer of Hebrews talked of Jesus' example as including the suffering of his life. He wanted us to realize that the strength of Jesus, His holiness, came as a result of the suffering He faced and His godly reaction to it. The writer later says "Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. {14} Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." (Heb 12:11-14 NRSV)
The Secretary General of the UN in the mid and late 1950's said with great wisdom: "You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting your right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind. He who wants to keep his garden tidy doesn't reserve a plot for weeds."
And so it is true that if we seek to be sanctified by God, if we look to His disciplining hand as an instrument for the tooling of our lives toward holiness, if we welcome God's influence in our lives with a desire to be holy, then we are living according to the requirements of God. We are pursuing holiness for the sake of His glory.
I want to close now with this thought from Origen. In a 3rd-century debate on Christianity, Celsus said to Origen, "When most teachers go forth to teach, they cry, 'Come to me, you who are clean and worthy,' and they are followed by the highest caliber of people available. But your silly master cries, 'Come to me, you who are down and beaten by life,' and so he accumulates around him the rag, tag and bobtail of humanity."
And Origen replied: "Yes, they are the rag, tag and bobtail of humanity. But Jesus does not leave them that way. Out of material you would have thrown away as useless, he fashions men, giving them back their self-respect, enabling them to stand on their feet and look God in the eyes. They were cowed, cringing, broken things. But the Son has set them free."
My dear friends, know this, God does require that you would live a holy life, but never despair in thinking that he has left you to do the impossible. He has not, He is with you always.
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